Olympic Freedom T-shirt Movement Launched
Freeing the spirit of the Olympic athlete
By Linda Slupsky
Epoch Times Southern California Staff Jul 11, 2007
FREEDOM FOR CHINESE ATHLETES:
This is the wish of author and founder of the Olympic Freedom T-shirt Movement, Kai Chen. Kai Chen released his autobiographical book 'One in a Billion' earlier this year. (The Epoch Times)
A new movement has surfaced in Southern California, but it will probably reach all the way to Beijing by next August when the Olympics begin. This movement began in the heart of its founder Kai Chen, during the dark days of the Cultural Revolution in China.
"No athletics at all" existed in China between 1966 and1971, during China's Cultural Revolution, according to eyewitness, Kai Chen, a former Chinese National Team basketball player. Chen is the voice behind the Olympic Freedom T-shirt Movement.
In 1971, sports resumed in China, but the Cultural Revolution continued for five more years until Mao's death. During the Cultural Revolution, some teenage children of intellectuals or families that had relatives in Taiwan were sent to rural areas to be reeducated as peasants. Once far away from the city and their families, they were seen as prospects for Chinese national teams. These teams were to be developed to open up China to other countries, according to Chen.
Chen tells the story of 15 kids that were packed up and sent to Beijing. Two remained with Chen on the Chinese National Team. Chen was selected for the basketball team.
Chen's teenage friend, Xiao, was at first selected for the national track and field team. But since his father served for the Kuo Min Tang Army, which opposed the Communist Regime, he was later expelled from the team. Xiao died in despair.
"Once you're born on Earth to do this, and this is taken away, is there anything more cruel? People lose their purpose in life." Chen added, "The communist party denies what you love."
How to Help Support Olympic Freedom
The Olympic Freedom Run series will begin on August 5, 2007 in Los Angeles and will continue as long as the funding from donations. The two-hour run will start in Chinatown and end at the Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum. All participants will receive a free t-shirt. Donations to help support the Olympic Freedom T-shirt Global Movement may be sent to: OFTGM, PO Box 1341, Rohnert Park, CA 94297-1341.
All proceeds from Chen's book One in a Billion will also be used to fund the production of t-shirts and the series of runs. It is available at:
www.freewebs.com/oneinabillion .
The death of his friend Xiao was the impetus boiling in Chen's heart for so many years which drove him to help free the spirit of the Chinese athlete.
In 1979, Chen had hoped to be picked for the 1980 Chinese National Olympic Team, but because China boycotted the Moscow Olympics, his dream ended, similar to the way Xiao's had.
Turning Defeat into Inspiring Book
Instead of giving up, Chen decided to stay strong. He decided to put his energy into telling his story and revealing the nature of Chinese national athletic system in a book. One in a Billion-Journey Toward Freedom (The Story of a Pro Basketball Player in China), was released earlier this year.
Chen completed the book in 1993, but because he was raising small children, he delayed publishing the book. Now with his children grown up and the Olympics approaching, he could not wait any longer.
"My conscience tortured me. Innocent people died. All this was screaming in the back of my head," says Chen.
Chen is not bitter for not being in the Olympics, nor is he insisting on boycotting the Beijing Olympics. Instead he asks that people wear his Olympic Freedom T-shirt during their travels to China.
"China to allow people to wear this t-shirt and walk on the street," is Conscience Foundation member John Li's wish. The t-shirt shows an image of the tanks on Tiananmen Square.
"The 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre gave the world's people too bad an image for China to host the Olympics any earlier," Li explained.
China's communist regime promised to improve human rights before the Olympics, and Li suggests that the people of the world need to ask the communist party to obey their words.
"If there were no CCP (Chinese Communist Party), I would go back to facilitate the Olympics." Chen hopes that people can see the CCP for what it really is, the "ultimate evil in the world."
Chen shared his thoughts about the Chinese Communist Regime. Chen said that the political culture in China is to be a "cog in a machine." Everybody serves the government or the collective.
[Part One of two]
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The Olympic Freedom Run series will begin on August 5, 2007 in Los Angeles and will continue as long as the funding from donations. The two-hour run will start in Chinatown and end at the Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum. All participants will receive a free t-shirt. Donations to help support the Olympic Freedom T-shirt Global Movement may be sent to:
OFTGM, PO Box 1341, Rohnert Park, CA 94927-1341.
All proceeds from Chen's book One in a Billion will also be used to fund the production of t-shirts and the series of runs. It is available at:
www.freewebs.com/oneinabillion .
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